The 58th Expedition Beyond The Walls
by suckboot
Summary: As the Survey Corps gear up for Shiganshina, Commander Erwin enlists reluctant Military Police member Neille as a new Captain for the mission; however, Captain Neille is not going on the 57th Expedition. Captain Neille and his four-person squad are tasked with actually reaching Shiganshina, as Commander Erwin predicts that the real enemy will reveal him or herself beyond the walls.
1. Chapter 1

Commander Erwin asked him for secrecy; Captain Levi's humorless gaze swore him to it.

As night approached, the squad loaded up their gear: 4 sets of ODM gear, 6 spare blades each, and a cargo-cart full of compressed air canisters, food provisions, and water rations. The generous supplies didn't make Captain Neille feel any more confident about going beyond the walls.

Neille looked at his newly assembled squad, now saddling up and strapping into their ODM gear. They could've been the most qualified soldiers he'd ever have the honor of knowing— it still didn't change the fact that he didn't belong there, and he didn't want to be there, either.

Neille was a top-tier cadet— third in his class, giving him the option to pick his placement. The thought of Mom's warm, homemade muffins, in addition to the benefit of never seeing an enemy over two meters high made the choice easy. He thought that an easy and safe existence had been laid out for him.

That was, until Commander Erwin and his goons invaded his life.

It all happened too quickly to comprehend. It was a typical weekend, and the weather had turned dreary, forcing the interior squad into their quarters and out of the bars. Commander Erwin's ominous, shocking knock on Neille's door couldn't be discerned from the claps of thunder outside.

"Captain Neille," Erwin had said. "Please pardon my abruptness, but you are being transferred to the Survey Corps, effective immediately."

Neille was too stunned to respond. Also, there was something unnerving about the small Asian man who lingered close to Erwin's right hand. His demeanor was as forgiving as a sharpened guillotine. After a few moments of watching green-cloaked soldiers packing up his belongings and shuffling them out of the apartment, Neille found his voice.

"No— you can't do this to me. I worked for this, I made the choi—"

Neille was caught off-guard by the speed of Erwin. Erwin seemingly teleported across the room, appearing directly in front of Neille's face. His breath was warm, and his breathing seemed frantic.

"You made the wrong choice, Neille. Humanity's fate is going to be decided by it's soldiers. You're one of our best, and I have a mission for you, far more important than your current one of wasting your talents inside of these walls."

Neille meant to retort, but before he had even realized it, he was packed into Erwin's carriage and was being briefed on the information regarding his mission.

 _Why couldn't I say no to him?_ Neille thought. _Did I know he was right, or was I too startled to say anything?_

Some men have an energy, a passion that sweeps others into its unyielding current.

"Oy, Captain— you gonna get your gear on or not? Or, did you forget how to strap in while lazing about in the interior?" Peter Kard interjected, ending Neille's unpleasant daydreaming.

Peter was second in command, a single-handed slice specialist, and also a proverbial pain in the ass. His cocky attitude only went as deep as his voice, Neille thought, as he noticed the strong, upright position he saddled with.

Rowina, the squad's most veteran soldier spoke up, "Cut the attitude, small-fry. You might've been top of your cadet class, but you're still green as the cloak on your back, and that man is still our Captain, despite his lack of experience and motivation."

Neille had noticed the cold glances Rowina had been consistently giving him all that day,and couldn't ignore the razor-sharp edge on the word _motivation_ as she said it. She obviously was jealous, and probably even more confused regarding the matter of her not being the position of Captain for this mission, and not even second in command. Neille didn't blame her; hell, he wished she were in charge of this assignment, too.

As Neille buckled into his gear and saddled up, the fourth and final member of his illustrious squad chimed in as well.

"Boss," Ivan said, "Can you give us any more info about what we're doing? We're going on nothing here."

Ivan seemed apt enough, but had developed an annoying habit of calling Neille _boss_. What had caused him to do this? Was it something he said?

"I've told you all that I know, soldier," Neille said as his mind drifted yet again to the fateful encounter with Erwin Smith.

He was back in Erwin's carriage again.

"The Scout Regiment isn't going to make it to Shiganshina, but you will."

Erwin pointed to a street and house on the map of the town, and then pulled a small, golden key from a pocket in his overcoat.

"This key will give you access to a basement in the house I've labeled on this map. You will search this basement until you find the information we need to understand the titans."

Neille hastily asked, "But what am I looking for?"

"You will know when you find it," Erwin said.

"But how?"

Erwin drew a deep breath. After what seemed like minutes, he spoke.

"The knowledge in that basement will seem like a fairy tale. If you can't believe it, then it's the truth."

Neille had rolled his eyes and was ready to retort again when Erwin pressed forward again, thrusting the key into Neille's hands.

"Humanity is counting on you."

Yeah, and so is this old, hell-bound fool, who has the gall to ask this favor of me, Neille had thought.

The sudden rain brought Neille back to the present.

So be it, he thought. Even if this Erwin character had intimidated me into subordination, I'll still do this mission, and I'll do it well, so well that I'll never have to see his terrible face again.

"Squad Neille," Neille called out. "The conditions for our departure tonight are not ideal; however, it seems like nothing about our mission will be ideal, so get used to this feeling."

The moon shone on the four members of Squad Neille and glistened the rain-soaked metal of their ODM blades. Their horses shifted uneasily in the immense darkness of that cool and wet autumn night.

"I don't have a way with words like your dear Commander, so I'll keep it brief, and hopefully rouse you all into cooperation with his favorite line."

For the first time all day, the squad appeared to be actively listening to his words. They stared at him as he adjusted in his saddle, suddenly aware of the gravity of the position he had been entrusted with.

He couldn't help but imagine the families that each of his new comrades came from, the love and memories contained in their minds and souls, and the sweet, warm smell of freshly-made muffins.

"Humanity is counting on you."


	2. Chapter 2

When the sun rose the next day, Neille witnessed his first titan.

That night's ride had been surprisingly uneventful and he had begun to settle into his role as Captain. The pioneering skills he had honed during cadet training had quickly come back to him, and his squad was at the correct spot nearly two hours ahead of time. The rain had died down hours into the night's excursion, making visibility and acoustics non-issues.

"Neille, you're starting to slouch in the saddle." Rowina shouted from her galloping horse. "Don't get comfortable out here. The titans are huge, but they are quiet as mice and can overrun our position in a matter of seconds."

Neille had found that hard to believe until he saw one's head poke up over the horizon.

The titan was over 10 meters tall, obtusely figured, and eclipsed the sun as it began to face the oncoming squad.

Neille was speechless. There was nothing in cadet training that could've prepared him for the sight of that behemoth; still, he glanced over to Rowina, who had gripped both ODM handles without a word or look of panic and kept her gaze on the looming giant. Ivan, an experienced Scout, moved his horse to the opposite side of Rowina in the formation.

 _They must be planning to bring it down._

He was relieved to see that he was not the only one who was fearful; Peter had both blades out and was shifting back and forth in his saddle, frantically looking between the squad's veteran and the squad's captain for direction.

Neille called out, "Keep your wits about you, Peter. We'll only engage if absolutely necessary."

 _Please, God, don't let it be necessary_.

As the squad continued towards its destination, a tiny village containing a cluster of houses and a single castle, the titan sprang into the air and began running towards their position, .

"It's an abnormal," Ivan shouted. Without a glance or even a nod, Ivan and Rowina spread out far to their left and right, leaving Neille and Peter in the vulnerable middle.

Neille got the idea. "Spread out into a T formation," he yelled to Peter, whose face now sported the same color as his cloak. "I'll act as bait in the middle, you stay behind me and take appropriate action. Now may be the time to show off those blade skills, hot-shot."

Peter gained a bit of his hue back at the name, settling back behind his captain in the formation.

Despite the confidence of his orders Neille felt the terrifying reality of his action; if that titan makes it to my position, I'm as good as dead, he thought.

The titan and squad were closing in on each other. By now, Neille could see its face, illuminated by the dead, hungry eyes that were locked onto not only his body, but his soul, as well.

A hundred yards was all that lay between him and a sprinting giant intent on devouring him whole. The sound of its feet crashing into the earth, mingling with the horses' hooves sounded and felt as if a herd of a thousand cattle were stampeding.

The ground shook with each titan footfall, now coinciding with Neille's frantic heartbeat.

Fifty yards.

The titan reached out its arms towards Neille in eager anticipation.

 _Please, God, save me._

Rowina blurred across Neille's line of sight, zipping behind the titan's ankles and slashing them both clean.

The giant collapsed forward. Neille narrowly avoided missing its mass meeting the earth as he jerked his horse to the right. He looked back towards the monster— steam rose from where its ankles used to be like the exhaust of a steamboat.

"Ivan, now!" Rowina yelled.

Ivan now circled the beast, looking for the perfect opening.

He found it.

Ivan hooked his cables into the titan's rump. He then jettisoned himself twenty meters into the air and hung in the sky over his prey like a guillotine. With a banshee scream and the hiss of his ODM gear he zoomed down to the nape and slashed his way through.

Rowina, now on her horse, rode over to his position and returned his horse.

Peter began, "Great kill, that was incredibl—"

"Shut it," Rowina cut in. "There may be more of them— let's get to that village, then we can celebrate however you'd like."

No one spoke until they had dismounted their horses, unloaded the provisions, and set up sleeping quarters in the slightly battered castle. They all kept their silence for different reasons; Neille's, however, was the only one derived from guilt.

 _They saved me_ , he thought, _even though I've been keeping them in the dark about our mission this whole time._

The squad sat down at the oak table for supper. Red banners from some ancient kingdom adorned the walls like dried blood, and tattered remnants of the past littered the floor on every side of the dining room.

"Got it!" Peter yelled as the fire roared its first breath from within its hearth.

Ivan brought in the provisions: bread seasoned with basil, mineral water, and jars of preserved pickles and cabbage. The squad moved into the least wobbly chairs and eagerly awaited their feast.

Neille was unable to look any of his soldiers in the eye. He heard a lid unseal, and Ivan's voice after. "Pickles or cabbage, boss?"

 _I don't care what Erwin said. I owe them this, at least._

Neille slammed his fists down on the table and sprang to his feet. "I haven't been completely honest about our mission with any of you," he said, "We're not going to meet up with Erwin's squad, nor Levi's squad."

The squad leaned out of their seats towards him, each expressing their own mixture of frustration, anger, and disbelief.

"Then who are we meeting with?" Rowina asked.

The captain paused, and finally, after what seemed like hours, spoke.

"No one— we're going to Shiganshina. Alone."

The gravity of the situation fell on the room; the walls now felt like sides of a wicker basket, with a thousand pair of blood-thirsty, starving eyes, looming over the unsealed opening. Once again, silence took hold of the squad.

Until Rowina smashed her plate into pieces.

She erupted from her seat, quickly making her way to the tapestries, ripping them to the floor in her rage.

"Erwin speaks of trust!" Rowina shouted. Destroying ragged tapestries wasn't enough; next, she targeted the aged, homeless relics of an age long past. The screaming grew so loud that Neille had to plug his ears.

"Why did I never question him?" She pounded the wall with her fist. "My friends from cadet school, my first squad, and— " Rowina sank to her knees. "Kent." Her fingers tangled into her charcoal bangs, which shimmered by the gleam of a few cascading tears.

"Oh, Kent. You died for nothing," Rowina choked as she spoke. "We're all living in our graves."

Ivan pulled his chair close to Rowina and placed his hands on her shoulders. Neille couldn't tell if he had begun crying, too. These two had been through some rough spots together.

Neille wondered for a moment if he should've just kept his mouth shut and did as Erwin said.

 _Is this Erwin why said to conceal the truth?_

Maybe, Neille thought, but it wasn't necessarily because it was the best course of action; no, it was simply the most convenient option for Erwin's control. Now, when Erwin's image flashed before Neille's age, he didn't see the handsome, blonde man, garbed in a heroic shade of green. Instead, Neille saw him for what he was: the Devil.

 _Humanity is hellbound, and Erwin prefers being ahead of schedule._

Neille forced his eyes open, away from the even more horrible, yet realistic portrait of Commander Smith. He opened his palms and closed them, over, and over again.

 _Am I just the Devil, too? Will my inaction now condemn them to death, later?_

Neille rushed around the edge of the table, grabbed Rowina out of Ivan's grasp, and turned her towards his face. Her blood-shot hazel eyes bored into his.

"I hate him, too, Rowina. I hate him more than living in fear— I hate him more than the titans."

All the eyes in the room were locked on their captain.

"We're not going to die for him. We're going to live. Even with the death sentence he's given us."

Ivan nodded his head and squeezed Neille's and Rowina's hands with both of his hands.

"And when we come out of that hell-hole in Shiganshina, I'll tell the military tribunal the truth: that _Captain Rowina_ led us in and out of the walls."

Peter now moved into the squad's embrace. Wordlessly, they had all grasped one another by either the hand, the waist, or the shoulder. It felt like cadet school, all over again. They sat there for minutes, listening to and feeling the warm breath of one another.

Peter spoke, "I don't want to kill the group therapy session, but I'm starving."

The three men laughed with restraint. "Don't kill the messenger," Ivan began, "But this is going to be our best meal. I dug through those barrels but the food only got nastier the deeper I got; I was honestly afraid to go further."

Rowina let out a tiny laugh and gripped Neille's hand. It brought him back to cadet school, and memories of Francis flooded his mind in an instant.

She spoke, "And here I thought we'd get better food, seeing as our Captain is from the interior."


	3. Chapter 3

For the next three days, they moved with purpose. Not for the Scouts, or the Interior, or for humanity. They moved for their lives. Squad Neille was a tsunami, flooding over the disputed territory between the walls, slaughtering every titan who was unlucky enough to cross their path.

Neille had even stopped calling out directions by the second day, and Rowina was content to point battle positions with her blades. The squad had formed their own language, comprised of steel, precision, and steam.

"Ivan, that last titan we took down felt like a steam room."

Ivan laughed, and Rowina moved her horse in closer to the group. "Before you ask— no. You never get used to the suffocating heat."

Neille reined in closer to the group and put two fingers to his lips, indicating silence. He had begun to have a sixth sense for the presence of titans. His predictive skill made him feel like a real Scout, especially when Rowina had patted him on the back after sensing three eight-meter class titans, ten minutes before they arrived on the landscape.

His titan sense now, however, burned hotter than ever, It was a nagging feeling, right above and between his eyes, a feeling that he couldn't stop his eyes from looking up at the scorching area on his forehead.

 _It's not something huge; no, it's something strange. Stranger than an abnormal. Strange, yet familiar at the same time._

At the onset of his mixed predictions, Neille shouted to the squad. "Form the widest kill-squad we've made yet— something important is about to happen. It may be our best strategy not to engage, so watch carefully for direction." The squad nodded with serious, deadly recognition. The horses nayed and the formation quickly stretched over a hundred yards wide.

Behind them lay a scorched, steaming landscape of green fields. On the orders of Commander Erwin, they had gone around a giant forest of trees and we're now well beyond its exit, it's highest canopy now receding behind the four of them. Ivan had wondered why they hadn't gone straight through the forest, and Neille told him the truth: Erwin had said that his mission would succeed or fail in that dense forest, and that Squad Neille shouldn't get involved in any way. Still, Neille couldn't help but imagine what had gone on between those looming cypress trees.

Ivan lifted his blades in puzzled manner, which Neille knew meant: "Nothing here, boss." He couldn't help but grin every time he heard the name _boss_ now. Glancing over to his left towards Rowina, she also parrotted the motion, leaving Neille as puzzled as the rest.

From the farthest side of the formation Peter came barrelling towards Neille. "Captain, there's a Scout out here, and she's badly injured. Follow me."

 _Now, when we return to HQ, you'll not only look upon the faces of four who've returned from their graves; no, you'll look upon five, Erwin._

Neille steered his horse to follow Peter and the rest of Squad Neille did as well, albeit still in a wide formation. His thoughts wandered frantically as he rode, mostly focusing on the fact that Erwin had said that _no_ Scout would make it beyond the forest. Despite the lack of trust that the Squad now harbored for their former Commander, Neille found it hard to resist the truth of that statement.

 _Who could be out here this far?_

Peter guided them to a couple of worn-down brick dwellings. The premises showed a former life of their own: children's toys, pots and pans, and various household trinkets all were strewn about the property. There wasn't a member of the squad who didn't wonder if these families had made it to the inner walls in time.

"She's right around this corner."

 _Annie?_

Neille jumped off of his horse when he saw her. As he made it to her body, he saw that she was covered in what seemed to be burn marks, like she had been exposed to the steam of rice at its highest boil. He pulled back her blonde, disheveled bangs to confirm it was really her.

 _What in the hell is she doing out here?_

He only then noticed her primary color: green.

 _Did she get recruited by the Scouts, too?_

Despite the non-appearance of any titans, Neille's sense was still burning, and now it burned hotter than ever. When his fingers grazed her boiling hot forehead, his own ran fiery hot. He abruptly pulled away from the fallen soldier.

"I don't know her, and it's strange that I don't," Rowina said. "Does anyone here have any idea who this is?"

As the other squad members shook their heads, Neille spoke up. "Her name is Annie Leonhart, and she's a member of the Military Police, just like me." Ivan looked at him confusedly, and before he could ask Neille said, "And I don't know why she's here, either, or why she's in the Scout Regiment uniform. All I know is that she's never looked this rough."

Peter hopped off of his horse, made his way over to Annie and grabbed her hands, marveling at the heat emanating from them. "Her fever is unreal— she's burning up like a dead titan." Ivan came over and the two of them picked her up and placed her in with the cargo, stuffing blankets around her body to keep the dwindling supplies from bumping into her. She was too banged up to ride a horse with any of the squad.

Even though Neille was impressed by the severity of Annie's condition, he had always been more impressed by her cold demeanor and relentless fighting ability. Now, when he approached her resting body in the cargo, he _knew_ that she would recover, despite all of the evidence to the contrary.

"We will set up camp here for the night," Neille announced. "If Annie isn't recovered by morning, we will head back to Wall Maria. If she does, we'll continue the mission."

Peter still couldn't leave her side in the cargo. "Wait until morning? Are you crazy?" He put his hand to Annie's forehead. "Are you running a fever too, Captain?"

"I can't explain why I know this, but I'm dead certain that she will be better by the morning." Neille could tell by the shifting of his squad's faces that there were not exactly pleased by his assurance. Something about Rowina's relentless gaze on Annie, however, showed more of suspicion than concern.

"You and her will get along well, Rowina. She might even give you a run for your money on the ODM gear."


	4. Chapter 4

Annie wasn't just recovered by morning; she was in fighting shape.

Neille was woken by the sounds of violence, and he knew instantly that his hunch yesterday was correct. He walked over to where Peter had been sleeping, right next to Annie in the cart, and he saw exactly what he expected.

Annie had Peter pinned in an arm triangle. Peter's face was as red and full as a ripe tomato.

"We're friends, Annie," Neille started. "It's good to see another MP out here."

At the sight of Neille, Annie reluctantly released her grip on Peter's neck and head. Peter gasped for air, rolling back and forth in a heaving panic as if he had been set ablaze.

"What brings you out this far, Neille?" Annie saluted Neille in the customary fashion of the Military Police.

Neille returned the salute. "That's just what I wanted to ask you." His forehead was still tingling, yet, it was fainter and more bearable than yesterday. He wasn't sure of how much information he should give her, or if she even give her any information about the mission. Erwin obviously hadn't allotted for this contingency in the plan, so this was fresh, untrodden territory for Neille to pass over.

Annie wasn't going to give any information out right, as Neille knew she was a reserved person. But out here, in titan territory, amongst a band of unknown people and one slightly familiar MP, he could only imagine how tight-lipped she may be.

"Seeing as how unimportant our mission is, I guess I can tell you it." Annie's ears seemed to perk up at Neille's openness. "Commander Smith sent us on an experimental survey expedition. The experiment is one of many to come: they're trying to figure out the ideal squad size for titan avoidance and slaying. Our mission is to go as far as we can and report back on our experience."

Annie interrupted his lies. "How far are you planning on going?"

By now, Peter was standing and was giving confused looks towards Neille. Using their unspoken, squad-specific language, Neille assured him it was part of the plan. Peter left the conversation and Neille hoped that he got the message: _tell the others that Annie doesn't know our objective._

"Well, since we really want to rub it in Erwin's face, we're going all the way to Shiganshina. He advised us that we shouldn't, but we're going to show him what we're capable of."

Annie didn't say anything. She appeared to be thinking it over, and her fixed eyes couldn't help but betray that she was weighing options in her mind. _What are those options?_

"I'd like to come, too— seeing as we're only a day's ride away."

Neille wasn't surprised to hear this. He had assumed that Annie was in a similar situation as him: he was bullied into a position in the Scouts, left for dead, and now was reclaiming his life in a profound way, just to get back at the Commander. "We'd love the help. Plus, our supplies are running low, so you can ride in the cargo and the horse won't know the difference. How's your gear?"

Annie hit both sides of her ODM gear, checking for the whining hiss of gas. "I'm all set on gas, but my blades are a little dull. I'll take some extras from the cargo." Neille nodded and patted her on the shoulder. As she began reloading blades into the slots in her ODM gear, Neille walked over to the horses to find Squad Neille saddled up.

"We heard that your diagnosis was spot-on, Doc.," Ivan said.

Rowina nudged Neille's horse with her own, and the two of them wandered off from the group to speak privately. She seemed tense— just as tense as she was during her meltdown in the castle a few days prior. "I don't trust her, and neither should you."

"I know, and I don't. Didn't Peter tell you that she doesn't know why we're out here— "

"That doesn't matter. This is what she _wanted_ to do. It doesn't matter if she knows our objective; she has an objective, too, and it happens to be in Shiganshina."

"Well, that means it may be the same mission as ours, seeing as she won't give us information about it, just like I wouldn't with her."

Rowina eyes shifted towards where she knew Annie was, resting in the cargo hold with sharp, unused blades. "This is a mistake. We should turn around right now, and forget we ever saw her. There's something about her. She makes me nervous."

Neille knew what she meant. He remembered his first titan sighting, and compared it to the feeling of uneasiness he had around Annie, and the latter of the two was the more powerful, unyielding feeling. "It might be a mistake, but imagine if it isn't: she's just another one of Erwin's victims. We can help her. And she may even help us. Could you live with that guilt, knowing that we left her to die?"

Rowina shook her head and sighed deeply. "I'll follow your lead on this, But— I'm not taking my eyes off of her."

"Good— neither will I."

 _What if it is a mistake?_

The thought wouldn't leave Neille's brain for as long as it took to reach Shiganshina.


	5. Chapter 5

To enter the most populous area of Shiganshina, the area that Squad Neille happened to be heading for, they had to carve a path through the swarm of titans residing there. If there were as many titans on the way back as they encountered heading towards the town, then they would run out of spare blades about halfway to their origin. Neille knew this, and the rest of the squad did, but their minds were on the present. That was, staying alive.

Five-meters, ten-meters, and even a few fifteen-meter titans were scattered about the streets, looking like giant bums, eager for a free meal, loitering amongst the cobblestone roads and brick houses. At this point, Squad Neille had grown a dedicated following: an intent mob was hot on their tails as they made their way to the house on Neille's map.

Neille called out to his cohort while they jumped from roof to roof, "Only engage if absolutely necessary— we can run out of gas easier here, since we have all these buildings to attach to." The scouts yelled out an affirmative, and they continued flipping through the air, shooting their hooks into any building they could pierce, and avoiding the groping titan hands.

Already, Annie was proving to be a tremendous help. On the way in, she had taken down three titans. Her and Peter had formed a rhythm and strategy for successful execution; wherever they went, a river of steam followed them. Neille still wondered if he had made a mistake in trusting her, although her performance in the past day was beginning to convince him of her trustworthiness. Rowina, however, still harbored an intense dislike of her, and followed behind her all the way into Shiganshina.

The closer Neille got to the basement, the more interested he got in reading the "fairy tale" that Erwin spoke of. What could possibly be in that room, that would utterly shatter my understanding of the world?

 _I'll probably find out that titans are actually people._

Neille laughed to himself, but quickly refocused on the matter at hand, just as Annie caught up with him.

"Hey, what's that key around your neck for? It looks familiar." Annie's eyes were honed in on the small key which dangled about Neille's neck.

"Oh, this worthless thing? I found it way back before Shiganshina. It was outside one of the run-down castles we camped at. Who knows— it may come in handy."

Annie swiveled her head back to the action, seemingly convinced of his lie.

"Neille— flank the 10-meter coming up on our left," Rowina shouted before she leaped to another rooftop.

With the hiss of his ODM gear he was positioned directly behind the titan's vulnerable, radiating nape. He locked in with his wires and slashed through; it was as smooth as slicing white bread. As the titan slammed into the street below, Neille realized, through a cloud of steam, that they had arrived at their destination.. Neille jumped over to Peter and spoke to him alone.

"Peter— take Annie off to the west to clean up some of those smaller titans. Keep her busy while we do what we were sent here for, okay?"

Peter nodded, and with gusto soared off in front of Annie. She looked back at Neille, her emotionless, gaunt face surveying him with suspicious certainty. Just when Neille thought she would never leave, she hooked into the nearest building and followed after Peter.

 _Let's make this quick._

Rowina and Ivan were already in on the plan without a single word. They all landed in the street, directly in front of the rubble that Erwin had called a house. Neille expected Ivan to make some half-assed joke about Erwin's living standards, but he was unusually silent.

 _Is he in shock, just because we actually made it here?_

Dried blood adorned the shack's remains; it was obvious that gory events had taken place here. Rather than think about the past, Neille kept his focus on the present, and more importantly, his future: within the walls. "Ivan, stand guard outside the house while we're in there. We don't want some titan crashing in the roof." He nodded, and Rowina helped Neille clear the final rocks out of the way of the basement's door.

Neille grabbed the key and drew a deep breath.

 _We actually did it._

He swelled with pride as walked down the basement's steps. He pushed the key into it's tiny slot in the mahogany door.

When he finally went to turn the key, all he found was horror. It didn't fit.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Neille shouted. He pounded his fist into the stubborn door, which to Neille's further surprise, simply opened before them. Faced with too much confusion, Neille looked to Rowina for reassurance. She calmly placed her warm, bloody hand on Neille's shoulder.

"Let's finish this— now's not the time to get scared."

Neille gripped her hand, and together, they went into the basement.

The musty, decaying smell of the room did not match it's furnishings. To Neille it was obvious that someone wealthy and intelligent lived here, evidenced by the volumes of dense texts adorning nearly every surface of the dimly lit basement. The two of them brushed dust off of every surface in the hopes of finding the actual key-hole. The only thing that was a likely candidate was the single unblemished desk. Neille read the name engraved on the desk aloud: "Dr. Yaeger."

"Here's a keyhole," Rowina pointed, who was now crouched under the desk.

Neille quickly rounded the table, put his key in the open slot, and went to turn it.

It turned, and the desk's drawer opened to them.

The only problem was, however, that there was nothing resembling a fairy tale of cataclysmic proportions inside of it. Him and Rowina felt all around the drawer, checking for any latches that would reveal another layer.

"Two five-meter titans approaching from the south, boss. You've got five minutes," Ivan shouted from outside.

The two of them quickened their pace. Rowina punched at the desk from underneath it, trying to unlatch or move any hidden contents. Just as she punched a fourth time, the drawer shifted and Neille caught what now was revealed as the decoy bottom of the drawer.

"You got it— come open it with me, Rowina!"

The two of them gripped one side each and pulled up like children who had to share a present.

As the layer was removed, Neille and Rowina saw them: three books, which, by their smell, and been treated with some peppermint oil. Neille grabbed the left-most book. It had an oily sheen, and it's spine had never been broken.

 _I may be the first person to ever read this._

"Boss, get out here, now!"

Neille dropped the book back in it's drawer and headed for the door, when a nagging feeling pulled him back to the desk. Rowina had already made it back outside, but he couldn't place why he couldn't leave the basement. Without a thought he placed the drawer back in its place, concealing the books. He then shut the drawer completely, locked it, and dropped the key around his neck. With a hint of sadness, Neille glanced back at the desk one last time before sprinting out of the room for his comrades.

 _I'll read those books, maybe not now, but someday soon._

He didn't know if his thoughts were true, but he was praying for their fruition with every step he took up the basement's steps. When he made it to the street, he found his squad, blades drawn, circling their prey.

Ivan and Rowina had cornered Annie against a house. Peter, now covered in more crimson than green, lay motionless on the cobblestone road. Neille rushed over, placed his hand over his mouth, and quickly realized that he was dead. His final expression wasn't one of valor, the face that is always portrayed by the military recruiters in every district; Peter's final expression was one of betrayal, and his tear and blood-soaked cheeks showed the severity of his last struggle.

 _He gave his life on my orders._

With his back to the skirmish, Neille raised the key from his neck and tucked it into the inner fold of Peter's military-issued jacket. His hand, which now shook with shock, anger, and sorrow, ripped the winged patch from Peter's sleeve and placed it in his own jacket. Woven into it was the identifier: "Peter Marlowe, Squad Neille."

"What's your true mission?" Annie asked without a tinge of fear or tension in her voice.

 _Rowina was right— now, I need to set things right._

Neille unsheathed his blades and pointed them towards Annie.

"To live— that's our mission. No matter the cost." Neille moved in closer to his squad; the anger emanated from them like the steam from a slain titan.

Annie didn't say anything. Instead, she cocked her head back and laughed. She laughed as if she been holding in every bit of positivity her entire life, and only now had the freedom to release it. She dropped the blades and their handles back into the slots in her ODM gear.

Squad Neille moved in closer.

"What's yours!?" Neille shouted.

Annie raised her pointer finger in the air, which bore a single ring, tipped with a sharp, red-stained hook.

"The same as yours."

A bolt of green lightning shot down from the sky and the concussion shot the remaining members of Squad Neille in different directions. Neille and Rowina managed to hook their cables into a house and quickly got their balance; Ivan, however, was not so fortunate. He lay unconscious in the street, only a few meters away from the initial blast. Dust, steam, and confusion clouded the air. As Neille peered through the dissipating fog, he felt the fear of God.

A lean-muscled, blonde-haired, feminine titan had appeared right where Annie had been standing.

Neille didn't know how to comprehend it, or what even to comprehend, but he knew one simple fact: Annie was a titan.

Ivan, now barely conscious, tried to crawl into the closest alleyway.

He didn't make it.

The female titan smashed her foot right into Ivan, making him the newest burial in the graveyard of Shiganshina.

Rowina screamed, leaping in bloodlust towards the female titan. She sank her hooks deep in her calves. As she did loops around the titan, looking for an opening in Annie's rigid defense, Neille went straight for the nape.

As he let out his strongest cry yet he made contact with Annie's neck.

Neille's blades shattered into a thousand pieces as he careened past the agile titan. He hooked his cables into her shoulder and hurled himself thirty meters in the air over her head to see what had gone wrong.

Her nape had crystallized. There wasn't even a scratch on it from where Neille thought he had landed his deepest cut yet.

 _Shit— we've got no chance_.

"Rowina, we have to disable her— we can't kill her."

But she couldn't hear him, not through the rage she was feeling. Rowina was slashing at every bit of skin she could get and had managed to get a few chunks out of Annie's hips, calves, and shoulders.

 _Maybe we can survive this._

Neille nose-dived down into Annie, tearing through the opposite shoulder of the one Rowina had been targeting. After a few more passes, Rowina managed to dislodge the arm on Annie's right side. Neille saw her mistake as she made it; her cable sank deep into Annie's neck. She was going for the nape.

"Rowina— don't!"

Rowina's battle scream was muffled as Annie bit down on her, severing her speeding body in half. Neille watched in horror as Rowina's head and torso passed across his vision. He shot his hooks into Annie and launched himself towards Rowina, catching her limp, dead body in his arms.

 _I need to live_.

Neille looked back only once and saw Annie racing towards him. He couldn't stand to look back anymore. He continued shooting his cables into any surface they could find. The hiss in his gear got weaker with every burst.

 _I need to live._

He looked down into Rowina's eyes, one last time.

 _I need to live— for them._

The world collapsed in on him and darkness swallowed him whole.


End file.
